Validating the relationship between beginning students’ transitional challenges, well-being, help-seeking, and their adjustments in an Australian university

ABSTRACT

To date, research has focussed on understanding how various contextual factors facilitate students’ adjustments to university as they begin their studies. However, there seems to be limited or no research and instruments that have specifically conceptualised and measured students’ adjustments, considering their transitional challenges, emotional wellbeing, and barriers to seeking help. Incorporating these factors, we previously developed a model of students’ adjustments, titled Transition, Wellbeing, Help-seeking and Adjustments (TWHAS). Building on this model, this paper aims to empirically validate the hypothesised TWHAS model using a validated survey and data collected from 306 first-year students transitioning to an Australian university. The strength of the predictive relations among the selected variables was tested by the significance of the path coefficients of the model. Our findings show a good fit to the theoretical model developed and demonstrate how students’ sociodemographic barriers to seeking help and moods (e.g. anxiety) can create a psychological barrier (e.g. lack of openness to seeking help) and how psychological barriers can further inhibit students’ overall adjustments to university. These findings have important implications for higher education policymakers, staff as well as administrators, counselling and support services future research on promoting students’ the positive adjustments to transition to university.

KEYWORDS:

• Transition to university
• mental health and wellbeing
• higher education
• factorial analysis
• barriers to help-seeking

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Our sincere thanks to Western Sydney University-Student Services and Amenities Fees for funding the study. Students, for sharing their valuable experiences; Ms. Emma Taylor, Mental Health Coordinator, WSU for her contributions in the study, Mr. Tobias Andreasson for research assistance; Mrs. Ellen Brackenreg, and Ms. Jenny Baines Ex-Director Student Support; Members of the  Advisory group; Dr. Megan Watkins- WSU  for their advice and  the  editor and anonymous reviewers of this journal for their guidance/valuable feedback provided on the manuscript; WSU-Student Services and Amenities Fees.

Notes on contributors

Prathyusha Sanagavarapu

Prathyusha Sanagavarapu is a senior lecturer in the School of Education at Western Sydney University, Australia. Her research areas include transition to school and higher education, blended and flipped learning and mental health and wellbeing. She has completed a few inter-disciplinary studies intersecting education with health and wellbeing, employing mixed methods. Currently, she is undertaking a collaborative funded research focussing on addressing gaps and inequities in knowledge sharing among stakeholders working with refugee children and their families.

Jessy Abraham

Jessy Abraham is a lecturer in the School of Education at Western Sydney University, Australia. She lectures in Primary Science and Technology. Before joining UWS she worked as a science teacher in NSW schools. Her research interests are in the area of student motivation, engagement and retention in sciences. Her research employs sophisticated quantitative analyses. Currently, her research is focused on pre-service science teachers and practices that enhance their self-efficacy in teaching science in primary school settings.